Holiday Safety

The hol­i­day sea­son is in full swing.  Malls are packed, dec­o­ra­tions are up and gath­er­ings are being planned.  Plus, with snow on the ground it looks to be a white Christ­mas.  The hol­i­day sea­son is that time of year where a lot is going on, from dec­o­rat­ing the house to prepar­ing a feast.  How­ev­er, this time, try to enjoy the hol­i­day while being safe. Here are 12 tips on hol­i­day safe­ty to keep you and your fam­i­ly safe this hol­i­day sea­son!

1. If you’re using a fresh­ly cut tree for Christ­mas, make sure that it is mount­ed in a stand and is watered con­tin­u­ous­ly to pre­vent it from dry­ing out and becom­ing a fire haz­ard.  If you’re using an arti­fi­cial tree, make sure it’s fire resis­tant.
2. If you’re on a vaca­tion, make bur­glars think that some­one is home by using pre-set timers on your lights inside your home and motion sen­sor lights out­side.
3. Before going away on vaca­tion, be care­ful who you share your hol­i­day plans with.  Be alert of sus­pi­cious peo­ple who may be hear­ing your con­ver­sa­tion.
4. Use your alarm sys­tem at all times, even if you’re going out for a quick errand.
5. If you have an alarm sys­tem from PROTECTION PLUS ®, take advan­tage of the Total Con­nect, Smart Mon­i­tor­ing and check in on your home even on the go.
6. When using your fire­place, do not use any flam­ma­ble mate­ri­als, such as gift wrap­pings or any oth­er pack­ag­ing items as they burn a lot faster and gen­er­ate a large amount of heat.
7. This sea­son, keep can­dles, match­es and any fire start­ing equip­ment out of reach from chil­dren.
8. Before hang­ing any Christ­mas lights, inside or out­side the home, inspect the lights for any faulty wires or cracks.  Replace these parts before installing and make sure all lights that are being used are approved by the Cana­di­an Stan­dards Asso­ci­a­tion (CSA).
9. Keep all doors and win­dows locked before going out or to bed.  Be sure to uti­lize a dead­bolt lock on all the main entrances.  If you don’t have one, install one.
10. Make sure your smoke alarms and car­bon monox­ide detec­tors are all in work­ing con­di­tion this sea­son.  Replace the bat­ter­ies or the detec­tors them­selves to make sure they are work­ing at full capac­i­ty.
11. Do not drink and dri­ve this hol­i­day sea­son.  Have some­one give you a ride, take pub­lic tran­sit or call for a cab.
12. Inspect the out­side of your home.  Put away all sharp and heavy objects that could be used to break into your home.

This hol­i­day sea­son should be one that is enjoyed with fam­i­ly and friends, cre­at­ing mem­o­ries that will last a life­time.  From all of us at PROTECTION PLUS ®, wish­ing every­one a very Hap­py Hol­i­days!!